Pile fabric.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PILE FABRIC.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. '7, 1905.

Application filed February 24., 1902. Serial No. 95,277.

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be itknown that I, EDWARD GATTLow, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in PileFabrics, of which the following is-a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in an article of manufacture knownas pile fabric, used for rugs and carpet, in which the amount of laborrequired in manufacturing the same is greatly reduced, and consequentlyso is the cost of manufacture. In my invention I use a backing offabric, which may be of the width of the ordinary breadth of carpet, orit may be wider when making rugs, and I attach to the upper side of saidbacking a series of' chenille threads, so that the free ends of thematerial used as the cross-threads in the chenille will standperpendicular to the backing and form a fabric similar in appearance tothe fabric known as Axminster carpet. Said chenille threads form thedesign for the rug or carpet. It is also an object of my invention tomake rugs of different designs with a shirr separating them, or to havea border of a different design which may be attached to the body of therug. I

In the manufacture of carpet or rugs at the present time the surface ofthe same is formed by threads which are woven or attached separately.This is a very slow process, as'a great number of threads are required.In my invention the chenille threads are attached by directing each ofsaid chenille threads to a pointed latch needle, which latter may beplaced very close together, as only a single thread is required tosupply the needle, instead of the upper and lower threads, as requiredin a shuttle-machine where it is impossible to have the needles placedclose together.

' By my invention the chenillethreads are sewed to the backingsimultaneously, said chenille threads first being set so that the designwill be properly formed in the finished fabric.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a perspective View of a carpetor rug illustrating my invention in course of manufac ture and a portionof the apparatus used to facilitate said manufacture. Fig. 2 is atransverse sectional view of a portion of the complete fabric. Fig. 3 isa View of the chenille. Fig. 4 is adiagram demonstrating one methed ,ofweaving the chenille to form the pattern. Fig. 5 is a diagram of a rug,showing the application of the above method. Fig. 6 is a diagramdemonstrating a second method of Weaving the chenille to form thepattern. Fig. Tis a View of a rug in which the lastmentioned method isapplied.

In the drawings, A represents a heavy fabric forming a backing for arug, which may be of any desired width.

B represents the chenille, which is carried by a roll Z), extending atright angles to the length of the backing A. A sufiicient number ofchenille threads are used so that when attached side by side theywillextend across the entire width of the backing. Said chenille threads areplaced sufficiently close together to form a surface similar to the AX-minster carpet. One or more narrow breadths of the backing may be placedside by side in the machine when it is desired to make narrow widths ofcarpet. The chenille threads are attached to the backing by means of arow of pointed latch-needles C, a needle being provided for eachchenille thread. Said needles are adapted to sew the chenille threadssecurely to the backing A. The stitches formed by the needles C runparallel with the chenille threads.

C is a roller carrying threads to supply the latch-needles.

A very fine fabric can be made in the above way, as the needles C can beplaced very close together. Either plain fabric or a fabric having adesign can be produced.

The chenille threads are made, as shown in Fig. 3, with severalwarp-threads b to hold the cross-threads Z2 after they are cut by theusual method. By using several threads 5 the needles C have sufficientmaterial to enter, and the thread from the needles will readily securethe chenille to the backing A, and the advantage in using severalwarp-threads b is to hold said threads 6 so that they cannot be pulledout.

A guide D is provided to direct the chenille threads to the properneedleand also to hold the cross-threads b of the chenille in an uprightposition, forming a fabric such as that shown in Fig. 2. The guide D,used for directing the chenille thread to the needle 0 in the presentinstance, is simply a reed consisting of the upper and lower parallelbars and the cross-wires forming separate spaces for every chenillethread. In addition to this reed it is sometimes found desirable to usea conical guide for directing each thread to the needle. Round chenillethreads may be used without departing from my invention and are founddesirable in manufacturing a cheaper grade of goods.

It will readily be seen that a rug or carpet can be made in a very shorttime compared with the time required by the old method, where thechenille is used as weft-threads running at right angles to the lengthof the fabric. The cost of manufacture is also greatly lessened, and afabric is produced which is very durable, as the short threads in thechenille are securely held to the backing of the fabric. The chenillethreads are made so that the pattern in the finished fabric will beformed by placing the chenille threads parallel with the length of thestrip of carpet, similar to warp-threads, instead of weft-threads asthey are used at the present time.

Fig. 4 represents the chenille cloth before it is cut into chenillethreads. 6 represents the warp-threads, and b the weft-threads. The darklines represent the colors to form the pattern. The section of chenillecloth (marked E) when out longitudinally between the warpthreads 6 willform the first chenille thread for as many rugs or repeats of thepattern as there are warp-threads b in the chenille cloth. The sectionmarked E when out will form the second chenille thread, the thirdsection forming the third chenille thread, and so on until a sufficientnumber are woven to complete the Width of the pattern.

Fig. 5 shows the chenille thread formed into a rug or carpet. Thread 1 1represents the first chenille thread; 2 2, the second thread; 3 3, thethird thread, and so on across the width of the pattern. The chenillethreads forming the pattern are set when they are placed on the roll 6so that the chenille threads will match and form the desired patternwhen attached to the backing.

It has been found to be undesirable to make a great number of rugs ofthe same pattern. The chenille cloth when out parallel with'thewarp-threads Z) will make, for instance, one hundred threads, which willform one thread in each of one hundred rugs, which will all be of thesame pattern. In the method above described section E, Fig. 4, wouldform the first thread of one hundred rugs, and to avoid cutting thechenille at the shirr a between the sections, which would necessitatethe handling of short pieces of chenille, I have devised a second methodof weaving the chenille, which is il ustrated in Fig. 6. Section Frepresents th chenille cloth of sufficient length to form? vhen cut thefirst chenille thread of one design, section F forms the first chenillethread of a rug of a second design, and section forms the first chenillethread of a rug of the third design, and so on until a chenille threadis made of sufficient length to be handled to an advantage, allowingenough material for several rugs to be placed on the machine at onetime. The second and succeeding threads to form the width of the patternare made in a similar way. If the chenille cloth were woven with a largenumber of sections of the same pattern, too great a number of rugs ofsimilar design would be produced. The advantage of this second methodwill therefore be seen. I can produce rugs of different patterns withevery section of the chenille cloth and at the same time have thechenille threads of sufficient length to place enough material in themachine so that it can be operated to an advantage.

It has been found desirable to change the design of the border of rugswithout chang ing the design of the body. I can readily do this in thefollowing manner: The chenille cloth is woven, as illustrated in Fig.4:, in which the different sections E E E 620., will form when outchenille threads Nos. 1, 2, 3, &c., of the same rug. These chenillethreads are cut at the shirr and placed side by side to form the body ofthe rug. The chenille threads to form the border are made in a similarway, and when out at the shirr the ends are attached to the ends of thechenille'threads forming the body of the rug. Fig. 7 illustrates a rugwith the border attached. The lines forming the inner square indicatethe body of the rug, which is joined to the border at the inner top andbottom lines by tying the ends of the chenille threads of the body andof the border. The side lines indicate the different patterns in thechenille threads, which are sewed to the backing. The borders of rugscan be readily changed in this way and very neat work can be done, asthe chenille threads can be attached so that when the rug is finishedthe connection between the border and the body of the rug cannot benoticed.

It is sometimesfound desirable to weave the chenille for the end bordersfor a rug in series and attach them to the backing, which backing isafterward cut and sewed to the backing of the body of a rug, and theends of the chenille threads of the border and body of the rug are thentied together, making a very advantageous way of making rugs so that theborders may be changed.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent 1. In a fabric, the combination of a backing, continuouschenille threads attached to said backing parallel to the length of thebacking, said chenille threads forming the design for a rug, a shirrformed in said chenille threads to separate the difl erent rugssubstantially as described.

2. In a fabric, the combination of a backing, continuous chenillethreads attached to said backing parallel to the length of the backing,said chenille threads forming designs for different rugs, and a shirrformed backing of the body and border together substantially asdescribed. 4:. In a fabric, the combination of a backing, chenillethreads attached to said backing parallel with the length of the same,said chenille threads forming the design for the body of the rug,chenille threads attached to a backing forming a different design for aborder of a rug, and a shirr formed at the ends of the chenille threadsof thebody and border, and the same attached by tying substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature in presence of twoWitnesses.

EDWARD GATTLOW.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM BUCKLEY, JOSEPH CATTLOW.

